Chase Middle School eighth-grader sees his potential

The eighth-grader said he originally wanted to attend the "Male Summit" at Highland Park High School on Friday so that he wouldn’t have to go to attend his classes at Chase Middle School.

"I’m not a school kid," Rangel, 14, said. "But now, today, I got a better perspective of what school is and what kind of opportunity it is."

The intention of the summit, organized by Rangel’s principal at Chase, Keith Jones, was to build young men’s characters and challenge them to avoid the things and people, like drugs and gangs, that could distract them from achieving their dreams. The all-day event featured former University of Kansas basketball standout Wayne Simien who told the predominantly African-American male audience that they "are made for greatness."

"If you desire greatness, you will listen and you will change," Simien, now a pastor, told the estimated 85 male students from Chase and Eisenhower Middle schools and Highland Park High School. "You guys have to take responsibility for your own greatness."

Other role models, mostly African-American professionals, spent some time talking and listening to the students on Friday during small group discussions in the Highland Park High School library. The intent was meant to show the young men that success is achievable and that the older men cared about the direction of their lives, something that wasn’t lost on Jose.

"All the people you see here today just didn’t come to just give you that stuff they tell you at school," he said. "These people came to tell you what’s life and what’s going to go on in life, what you need to do and what’s the road. These people aren’t here wasting their time. They’re here to tell kids what they need to do with their lives."

One such role model who spoke with Jose was Kareem Wall, site coordinator for KU Gear Up, a program of the University of Kansas school of education which aims to academically and financially prepare students for postsecondary education.

"The decisions you make now don’t have to define you," Wall told Rangel and other students at his table, recalling stories of his own troubled youth. "You can make the right decisions."

Nick Wiggins, the program coordinator for a black male initiative at Kansas State University, said having the male role models physically present and genuinely interested in the younger students’ success has a more profound impact than most people realize.

"As young black men, as a lot of these fellows are, we’re searching for who we are," he said. "No one’s judging them or saying they need to be this or that but just saying your character matters. I think that gives them a great opportunity to reflect on themselves. These fellows have the opportunity to see successful, black educators or successful minority educators. It matters."

Rangel said he was prone to getting in trouble, mostly because he would steal things, when he was living in California for about a year and a half before his family returned to Topeka two months ago. He said he wants to stay on a path that will lead him to graduate from high school and eventually attend Washburn University.

"The way I am, it might be hard to accomplish," he said. "But if I commit to it, I can do it."

Contact reporter Angela Deines at (785) 295-1143 or follow her on Twitter @AngelaDeines.

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